A seemingly happy couple with no history of domestic violence were found shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide in a quiet Florida community.
CBS 12 reports that Richard Bater-Timilty, 27, and his girlfriend, Holly Given, were found shot to death on Wednesday in their Singer Island apartment. Timilty, who went by the first name Travis, is believed to be the gunman.
According to the CBS 12 report, Timilty’s own mother found the gruesome scene after she went to the couple’s apartment to check on them when she couldn’t reach them by phone. She reportedly found both of the bodies in the bathroom.
“It’s just not like my son to do something like this,” Timilty’s mother Lisa Martinez reportedly told the news staton off-camera.
In a subsequent report in the Palm Beach Post, both of the suspected gunman’s parents said they saw him about 30 minutes before the suspected murder-suicide. He had been drinking with friends at a restaurant when his phone died. Martinez and her ex-husband Dennis Bater went to pick him up, and said he was in good spirits.
“He was smiling,” Martinez told the Palm Beach Post.
“He was happy.”
It is not clear why Timilty’s mother felt compelled to go to his apartment when she could not reach him by phone a short time after she saw him. The Palm Beach Post report conflicts with the CBS 12 story in saying that police discovered the bodies when a relative called for a welfare check.
Timilty and Given began dating earlier this year after meeting at work at the Sailfish Marina, and Given reportedly moved into his apartment in August. She confirmed their relationship in a Facebook post on October 20.
There are conflicting accounts about the status of Nicole and Travis’s relationship at the time of their deaths.
A neighbor told CBS 12 that Holly wanted to move out and that perhaps Travis despaired over losing her.
And neighbor Melissa Birch told the Palm Beach Post that she had seen Holly moving belongings into her car from the home the day before the apparent murder-suicide. She that Holly appeared to be in a hurry.
“There was a history there,” Birch told the newspaper.
It is unclear if Birch is the same neighbor who spoke to CBS 12.
Timilty’s parents denied any trouble in Travis and Holly’s relationship and said their son was planning to buy an engagement ring and propose.
While there were no domestic violence calls made in relation to either of the deceased, online arrest records show that a man by the name of Richard Travis Bater Timilty was arrested twice in Georgia in recent years, once for a probation violation and more recently for a DUI.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
[Feature image: Facebook/Nicole Given and Travis Timilty]
